In an attempt to understand the progression of prostatic adenocarcinoma, we chose to study Noble (NB) rats. This strain of rats develops prostatic adenocarcinoma in dorsolateral lobe following long-term androgen and androgen-estrogen combined administration. The question of interests are the factors that may regulate tumor initiation and the latent period between initiation and the actual expression of tumor phenotypes. We developed several sensitive methods that allow us to differentiate differences between normal and adenocarcinoma tissues. Furthermore, the methods are also useful in differentiating differences between hormone-dependent and independent tumor cells.